Practice Results – MotoGP 2011 – Round 18 – Valencia
Stoner quickest off the mark at Valencia
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda) was the fastest rider of the opening day of the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana on Friday, setting a best time of 1’45.513 in the morning practice session to lead the way.
The first practice was run on a cold and damp track following early morning rain and affected the pace of the riders, but further precipitation did hold off during FP1. It was a different story in the afternoon however as rain ensured trickier conditions, and the riders lapped around four seconds slower in FP2.
It was a Repsol Honda one-two on the timesheet as Dani Pedrosa followed his team-mate Stoner closely at just 0.223s behind, and the Ducati Team pairing of Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden enjoyed a positive start to their weekends as they placed third and fourth respectively.
Running the number 58 in tribute to Marco Simoncelli, Loris Capirossi, who retires from Grand Prix racing after this weekend, was fifth fastest on his Pramac Racing Desmosedici, with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies the top placing M1 of the day. The American went on to have a crash in the afternoon which cut short his second session, as the wetter conditions caused further problems for the riders.
Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing), Toni Elías (LCR Honda), Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) and Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) completed the top ten. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) was eleventh overall but topped the wet afternoon session, with Josh Hayes – standing in for the injured Colin Edwards at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – enjoying his MotoGP debut and lapping 15th fastest on day one.
1 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 1m45.513s (FP1)
2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m45.736s (FP1) +0.223s
3 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 1m45.828s (FP1) +0.315s
4 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m46.073s (FP1) +0.560s
5 Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 1m46.108s (FP1) +0.595s
6 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 1m46.259s (FP1) +0.746s
7 Randy de Puniet Pramac Racing Team 1m46.371s (FP1) +0.858s
8 Toni Elias LCR Honda MotoGP 1m46.393s (FP1) +0.880s
9 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m46.402s (FP1) +0.889s
10 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m46.581s (FP1) +1.068s
It was a similar situation in Moto2 in which the riders were also forced to negotiate the track in a more cautious manner in the afternoon session, running around 10 seconds slower than they had done in the morning.
Stefan Bradl’s FP1 time of 1’41.777 placed the Viessmann Kiefer Racing rider at the top of the timesheet on Friday, as the Championship leader appears well on course to claim the title before Sunday’s race has even taken place.
His only remaining challenger for the title, Marc Márquez (Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol) did not ride on Friday as he has still not recovered fully from the crash he had in Malaysia two weeks ago. There was confusion over whether the Spaniard, who sits 23 points off Bradl, would ride at all this weekend and his team have said a final decision on his participation in qualifying will be made on Saturday.
Back on track Randy Krummenacher (GP Team Switzerland Kiefer Racing) was second fastest behind Bradl at 0.329s off, with De Angelis the only other rider within a second of Bradl’s morning lap time and third.
Mattia Pasini (Ioda Racing Project), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag-CIP), Kenny Noyes (Blusens-STX), Kenan Sofuoglu (Technomag-CIP), Anthony West (MZ Racing), Michele Pirro (Gresini Racing) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing) completed the top ten.
In the 125cc class the lap times were also predominantly faster in the morning owing to the conditions, and it was Sandro Cortese (Intact Racing Team Germany) who set the pace with a lap time of 1’56.928.
Johann Zarco (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo), the only remaining title challenger to Championship leader Nico Terol – who he trails by 20 points – was second fastest at just two-thousandths of a second behind Cortese, with Adrián Martín (Bankia Aspar) a further four-tenths back in third.
Efrén Vázquez (Avant-AirAsia-Ajo), Marcel Schrötter (Mahindra Racing), Jonas Folger (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport), Danny Kent (Red Bull Ajo Motorsport), Maverick Viñales (Blusens by Paris Hilton Racing), Danny Webb (Mahindra Racing) and Bankia Aspar’s Terol completed the top ten.
– Repsol Honda
Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa sign the two fastest times of a day branded with rain and unpredictable weather. Dovizioso is ninth in this first day.
The Ricardo Tormo circuit saw the rain marring the first day of the fourth Spanish Grand Prix of the year. The Repsol Honda Team riders, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, were the ones to adapt themselves better to the weather conditions during the whole day and took the first and second positions at the end of the two first free practice sessions. His team mate, Andrea Dovizioso, set the ninth fastest time of the day.
The first contact of the MotoGP riders with the Ricardo Tormo track was complicated. Under threatening dark clouds, the Valencian track offered areas with wet tarmac and others with dry surface. Some minutes had to go by before the riders adapted themselves to these difficult conditions and set times that, at the end of the day, would be the fastest. It was not until the last part of the session when Casey Stoner took the lead of the classification, improving the fastest time until setting a time of 1 minute, 45 seconds and 513 thousandths. The Australian saw in the last lap how his team mate, Dani Pedrosa, got closer and finished only 223 thousandths behind him. Andrea Dovizioso, meanwhile, set the ninth fastest time.
If the weather conditions were complicated in the morning, in the second free practice session they were even worse. It started to rain intermittently at the beginning of the session. The Repsol rider who felt more comfortable on the Ricardo Tormo wet track was Andrea Dovizioso. The third placed in the MotoGP Championship set the sixth fastest time of the session, followed by Valentino Rossi and his Repsol Honda Team mates, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, who set the eighth and ninth fastest time, respectively.
For tomorrow, the weather forecast indicates an improvement. The Repsol Honda Team riders will try to achieve the fourteenth pole position for the team in the eighteen rounds of the year. If it is the new World Champion of the premiere category who achieves it, Casey Stoner will match the record of pole positions in one year —twelve— set by Mick Doohan in 1997 in 500cc and equalled by Marc Márquez in 125cc last year.
Dani Pedrosa
FP1 – 1:45.736, 20 laps, 80 km.
FP2 – 1:49.820, 17 laps, 68 km.
“This morning we had a very good run, but in the afternoon we had some issues on the bike with the rear shock and I only managed a few laps, spending a lot of time in the garage making changes. The track surface is quite old and very slippery, even when the track was drier it was still tough. The feelings are not so bad and I think we need to be ready for mixed weather conditions, improving the set up step by step. Let’s wait and see if tomorrow we have some dry sessions to get out on slick tyres, this would be important to better understand the direction to take on the set up of the bike”.
Andrea Dovizioso
FP1 – 1:46.402, 20 laps, 80 km.
FP2 – 1:49.422, 20 laps, 80 km.
“Today the conditions of the track were really demanding as there was no grip. We did good work with the team and we were careful not to make mistakes as we didn’t want to take additional risks with these difficult conditions. All in all, I’m quite satisfied as I was able to ride quiet fast without pushing too much but of course we need to keep on working. I hope that tomorrow the weather and the track situation will improve”.
Casey Stoner
FP1 – 1:45.513, 15 laps, 60 km.
FP2 – 1:49.674, 14 laps, 56 km.
“It hasn’t been a great day to be honest, we’ve never had a great feeling here in the wet. I love riding this circuit in the dry, but there seems to be some sort of oil or grease on the circuit, I’m not sure if it’s due to a lot of car rubber down but it makes things hard for sure. It’s been pretty useless in terms of finding a good set up, both sessions began with a little water and then drying out towards the end, when it’s like this you’re chasing the set up all day so we didn’t do too much work on the bike. We tried a few small things to make it better in the wet, but then as it dried up we saw everything we had done was a waste of time. We’ll wait and see what tomorrow brings and if it does rain again I hope it at least rains consistently so we can get a full wet session in”.
– Ducati
The first day of the GP de la Comunitat Valenciana started off well for the Ducati Team, with Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden riding comfortably in the wet conditions that marked both free-practice sessions. The teammates posted the third- and fourth-best times of the day, respectively, their fastest laps coming in the morning session.
Conditions were slightly worse in the afternoon, and all of the MotoGP riders lapped more slowly. Forecasts for tomorrow and for Sunday’s race are uncertain, although conditions are expected to improve slightly.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 3rd (1:45.828)
“Our bike works very well in the wet, so this morning I was able to push and to stay up there near the front. In the afternoon we had a few more problems because we made a mistake with the rear setting. I couldn’t manage to find grip under acceleration, or to ride the bike well like in the morning. I should add that we’re a bit on the limit regarding the asphalt conditions, because it’s very worn and has terrible grip. The rain and the cold make it worse, and it’s very difficult to ride. We’ll have to see how to proceed throughout the weekend, because if it stays wet, we could do pretty well. If it improves, we’ll have to see how we are in the dry.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 4th (1:46.073)
“This was actually the first time I’ve ever ridden the GP11.1 in the wet, and I was really happy with how it felt. The track was extremely slippery. We came from Malaysia and Australia, where the surface would dry in no time, but here, even when it would stop raining, it just wouldn’t dry. The grip was really low, especially on corner entry, but we made a few steps through the day that seemed to help. I’m not going to lie; it would’ve been nice to end up in P1, even though it’s just Friday afternoon, but we spent a lot of time at the top and put up quite a few red helmets (the monitor’s indication for a best time in a sector or lap). We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow, but regardless, we got some good information.”
– Suzuki
Rizla Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista led the way during this afternoon’s second free practice session at Valencia as he took first place on the timesheets at the wet Spanish circuit.
Heavy rain started to fall over the 4,005m Valencian circuit at mid-day and by the time Bautista and the rest of the MotoGP riders took to the track it was fully wet. Suzuki’s Spanish star acclimatised to the conditions well and produced consistent quick laps that consolidated his position at the top of the standings. His time of 1’47.975 was over 0.3 seconds quicker than his nearest rival and he looks to have a good set-up and a confident riding style for Sunday – if this afternoon’s weather replicates itself for the race.
This morning’s practice session started in damp conditions, with Bautista again looking impressive, but as the track started to dry out he found grip difficult to find and finished in 11th place. World Champion Casey Stoner took the honours on the drier track by recoding the fastest time of the day.
Bautista has one more free session tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 30-lap race is the final event of the season and with inclement weather forecast it looks like being a very interesting and entertaining race.
Álvaro Bautista: “Today has been a good day for us because we have had a full wet session to get some practice in those conditions. In this morning’s session I had a good feeling at the start, but as the track became drier it wasn’t as good and I couldn’t ride at the limit. The bike moved a lot and was spinning-up all over the track, so it was very difficult. In the second session, after the heavy rain, the track was much wetter and the conditions were a lot worse than this morning for all the riders, so it was essential that you rode smoothly and carefully. We changed some settings in the bike to help me get a confident feeling in the GSV-R and at the end of the session I was able to find a good rhythm. We finished first today and although it’s only the second free practice, you cannot improve as much in the wet as you can in the dry, so this is very good for us. I hope that tomorrow we can make some improvements in drying conditions like we had earlier today, but if it is totally dry we still have plenty of work to do to get ready. I am happy with the first day and looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager: “Winter feels like it has arrived in Valencia and it didn’t look like the most pleasant day to be on a Grand Prix bike out there. That said, cold and low grip conditions were always the situation that caused us the most problems and as we saw at Phillip Island a few weeks back – and again today – the steps that Suzuki has taken with the GSV-R have again proven to be very effective. However, improvements to the motorcycle aren’t enough because you also need a confident and capable rider and Álvaro looked very assured and smooth in the full wet conditions this afternoon – it was nice to see his name at the top of the sheets. I think Álvaro – and everyone else – would prefer some dry, sunny running over the next couple of days, but whatever the weather brings our intention is to push to the maximum and achieve the best result we can.”
– Bridgestone
Bridgestone wet compounds available: Front: Soft. Rear: Soft
The first wet MotoGP sessions since Free Practice three for the Czech Republic Grand Prix on 13 August provided some interesting running today on the opening day of the season finale in Valencia.
This morning’s first free practice was damp after heavy early morning rain, meaning that all riders used Bridgestone’s wet tyres for the entire 45minute session. Casey Stoner finished fastest, ahead of Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa and Ducati’s Valentino Rossi.
More rain fell at midday and left the track soaked for the second free practice session, and in these conditions it was Suzuki’s Álvaro Bautista who shone, setting the fastest time of the session 0.34seconds ahead of Ducati’s Nicky Hayden with the satellite Pramac Ducati of Randy de Puniet in third.
The sun emerged towards the end of the second session and track conditions started to improve meaning that the laptimes got faster throughout, although the morning’s session was still the faster of the two. Parts of the circuit remained very tricky, such as the standing water on the entry to turn one which caught out Ben Spies and Karel Abraham, who was running at the front for most of the afternoon.
Dry weather is forecast for tomorrow but rain is expected all day on Sunday, potentially meaning the first wet race this season since the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in June.
Tohru Ubukata – General Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department
“We had two wet sessions today but the conditions in each were very different. In FP1 it started damp and slowly got drier towards the end, whereas in FP2 it was fully wet. What this means is that today we have been able to assess the performance of our soft compound wets in a very wide range of conditions and from this I can say that I believe durability and consistency are sufficient for race distance in anything from damp to full wet. This is important given that rain is forecast for Sunday.”